BARRY ANDERSON

Jamie Walker today revealed that Scott Brown’s accusations of cheating in the wake of Hearts’ 2-1 defeat by Celtic left him “disappointed”, but the Jambos forward insisted he is now over the controversy.

Hearts lost 2-1 to a late Scott Sinclair goal, but much of the post-match talk surrounded Kieran Tierney’s 36th-minute challenge on Walker in the penalty box. Referee John Beaton awarded a spot-kick that Walker scored, but he was penalised for diving by the SFA compliance officer Tony McGlennan two days later. Hearts failed to overturn the punishment on appeal.

An outspoken response from the Celtic captain Scott Brown after the game fuelled the ire directed at Walker for simulation. Brown said Walker should have been at the Olympic Games in Rio and accused him of blatant cheating.

“I thought it was a bit disappointing,” said Walker. “He was captain of the national team at the time and to hear that from someone like him is a bit disappointing. It’s part of football, though, and you just need to get on with it.

“I just brushed it aside. If you let it get you down, it’s going to affect your performances every day in training. I just put it to one side and got on with things. There was a lot going on, we were trying to get the appeal done and stuff like that. I just had to keep working hard in training and forget about it.

“I’ve been okay generally. I was just delighted to get it all out of the way and get back on the bench against Partick Thistle. I was disappointed knowing I was going to miss two games. The boys won 5-1 against Inverness while I was out of the team so I knew I’d have to fight my way back in. That was probably our best team performance of the season so far, then we won 2-1 at Partick.

“The gaffer then showed faith in me by putting me into the team at the weekend there. I was happy to repay him with two goals.

“A few of the boys had been went away on international duty. Sam Nicholson had a long flight [to Ukraine with Scotland Under-21s] so I got my chance against Hamilton and managed to score twice. I’m just happy to be back in the team now with all that stuff out of the way.”